Country Boys
by Proudtobepack
Summary: Rude moves down south to attend law school, while down there he meets a redheaded mechanic and the two quickly becomes friends. Which soon becomes more. RudeReno slash fiction.
1. Chapter 1

_Country Boys_

_Chapter 1_

~o~

The summer sun was warm against the back of his head, warmer than he was used to from where he used to live. It was also humid, and made the man huff a bit in his black shirt, but he'd deal with it. He would have to get used to the heat, he'd be in law school down here for many years to come, only being able to escape it on certain holidays. He heaved a sigh of relief as a nice cool breeze whipped gently across his face, allowing him some relief from the heat that he was standing under. At that thought he lifted his things and headed inside, having moved down just a few days ago, all situated now inside his small apartment only a few blocks from the Law school he was to attend. He still had a nice long month and a half of summer left, deciding to come down early when he caught the good deal on the apartment.

Rude stepped inside and gave a sigh again, only this time it was silent, thankful for the apartment's air conditioning. He stepped up the stairs and headed to his new apartment, which was on the third floor of the seven floor apartment complex. He dug out his keys and unlocked his door when he reached it and then stepped inside and shut the door behind him, locking it for good measure, even though it was a good neighborhood and he need not worry about break ins, yet he did it anyway, a habit he'd developed. He kicked off his shoes and went over to his kitchen, tugging out a small bottle of water, draining it before he refilled it and replaced it into the refrigerator.

After Rude made himself something to eat he settled down with a book, relaxing on his bed happily as he flipped the worn pages, having picked it up from a used book store, smiling contently to himself while his glasses sat on his face comfortably, having swapped his sunglasses out for the regular lenses when he got home. Eventually he felt tired enough to sleep and marked his page before getting up to change into a more sleep appropriate attire, for the south, no shirt and thin cotton shorts that had once been pants. He removed his glasses and folded them up and set them on the end table next to his bed, pulling a thin blanket over his form he settled in the dark and slowly let himself drift to sleep.

~o~

When Rude got up the next day he decided to take a drive around town, get more used to the new surroundings. He was a wanderer, loving to roam and explore new places, not that he looked like he did, even when he did, his face held no look of wonder, or outward interest, but it was there in his eyes. His eyes shone with simple contentness, loving to wander around when he could get the chance. He stopped at a gas station to get a bit of gas so he wouldn't drain a lot of his gas with his drive, and then started on his journey.

He drove through the residential areas, warm brown eyes glancing around behind his sunglasses, taking care to go the speed limit and to keep an eye out for any kids that may or may not run out into his way, chasing a ball or something of the like, seeing as this was a bit of a residential area. He kept his window down, arm resting on the edge while one hand gently held onto the steering wheel. He liked to know his way around the place he lived, he preferred it in fact, to not knowing where everything was at.

As he turned onto a new road, back into a more urban part of the town, Rude's car began to sputter angrily, but still ran. He groaned and glanced around, looking for any signs to mechanic shops. He heaved a sigh of relief when he saw one not too far off, and hoped his new little car could make it the ways away that the shop was. As it were, the car died just as he turned into the driveway, Rude put it into park and got out and jogged up to the shop and looked around, blinking as he saw someone bent into an open car hood, examining the engine, and then they straightened and brushed a long ponytail over a shoulder. Rude's blinking was mainly from the intensity of the color in the person's hair, who's gender he had yet to figure out as they had an androgynous figure, which was a very bright red, as red as a fire hydrant. The person huffed a small groan and pulled the rag that was sticking out of a pocket and wiped their hands off on it, before stuffing it back into the pocket. Their hands were then placed on slender hips, as they gazed down at the exposed engine, seemingly trying to dissect the problem with the vehicle with just the gaze. It took a long moment of Rude's part, having to shake himself from the urge to continue ogling the person before him, and with a small polite cough into his hand the person perked up. They seemed to be broken from the trance they'd been in and spun on their heel.

The next thing that Rude noticed aside from the almost obnoxious bright red hair was their set of eyes, an equally bright blue to match the hair. Rude was almost certain this person dyed their hair on a regular basis and wore colored contacts because he'd never seen anyone with that intense a hair shade, or intense an eye color. The eyes were light and shone in the dim lighting of the garage, with an almost mischievous glint. Bordering the blueness of their eyes, were red tattoos, along the bottom edge, that almost made him gape, he'd never seen anyone with facial tattoos before either. Though, to be fair, he had grown up in a very conservative neighborhood his entire life, never moving once.

Another thing about this person, and he hadn't gotten past their face, was he felt oddly drawn to them. Perhaps it was just their charisma, which they seemed to have floating all around them, because he wasn't that social with people. He tended to be a loner, and was all throughout school, despite being a star on the football team. He neither partied nor bothered himself to make many friends outside the small handful he had when he was a child, no matter the many attempts the other students, the much more popular students, made. Suitors were equally ignored, and it wasn't as if he was cold about it, whenever approached he would politely decline and offer a rare smile. After the first handful of approachers, he was bothered no more and the suitors stayed strictly private in their crushes.

The person took a small moment to do as Rude was to them, but not on the same degree, as Rude could ogle as he wanted, eyes covered by the dark lens of his sunglasses. They then gave a small smile and shifted into a comfortable stance, hands inside of pockets. It was finally the full assessment of Rude's eyes on them, as their voice that gave them away.

He was wearing what seemed to be the uniform shirt, for the garage, and had a tight, black wife beater underneath, showing no curve of the chest, in any feminine way. His voice was higher than Rude's low baritone voice, but still had a deep click to it and was extremely smooth. And by smooth, Rude meant his accent. It was neither weak nor heavy, but sure and strong at the same time. It almost sent a shiver down Rude's back, not something that he was accustomed to.

"Hey yo, how may I help yah?" the man before Rude asked, ah, a light mischievous tone was in his voice as well, just like his eyes. It took Rude a moment to find his voice, and when he did he coughed into his hand briefly before feeling grateful that he was darker skinned, for he felt his cheeks flush a deep warmth over the bones.

"Ah, my car just died, it's in the driveway, I'm not sure what's wrong." He announced to the man, before noticing the name tag. Reno, hmm… Reno blinked and then smiled and nodded.

"C'mon, I'll help ya push it into the garage so I can take a look." Reno said, holding up a hand and stepping behind a car to shout at someone. "Hey, Ax! Come n' help me a minute!" Reno smiled when he heard an affirmative shout back. When the male, nearly as tall as Rude himself, but just as skinny as Reno appeared, Rude felt like he was seeing double, for Reno and 'Ax' looked like they could have been identical twins, minus the different hair and height, and as Rude took a closer look, Ax's eyes were actually a green, and just as intensely bright as Reno's.

"Ax, you can steer the car an' me n'…" Reno had begun only to blink and grin sheepishly, never having gotten Rude's name. "Ah, never introduced me self, sorry, yo. I'm Reno, and this is meh bro Axel." Reno introduced, holding his hand out to shake. Which made Rude blink at the formality of it, not figuring by what he knew so far to be like that, shows to not judge by the cover at least. Rude gave a polite nod and gripped Reno's hand in return, again surprised that the other male had a tight grip.

"Rude. Nice to meet you both." Reno smiled and nodded before he got back to what he was saying.

"Back at cha, Rude. As I was sayin' Axel, you can steer an' me n' Rude here can push the car up into the garage, just don't be an ass about it, yo" Reno said, scolding Axel playfully, only banter. Axel laughed and ruffled Reno's hair some, before nudging him with a hip.

"Y'know I only do that when we gotta work on Demyx's car." Axel teased back, his voice, while like Reno's, just wasn't as smooth. His accent was a bit more clicked, like he hadn't lived down south all his life, which made Rude wonder before he shook his head some and waited for the brothers to commence with their work.

"Alright, alright, yo. Let's get workin', I'm hungry and lunch is only an hour or two away." Reno said with a roll of his eyes, but was still playful. He then headed over to stand closer to Rude, giving the larger man a smile. "Alright, now. Where's this car?" He asked and Rude obliged in showing where the vehicle had died. It didn't take too long, the two of them being more than enough strength to push the vehicle up into the garage into an open space.

Rude couldn't help but notice a few times when he had glanced over to Reno, that while he was skinny, and perceived to be just that at first, he was actually mainly lean. For he had muscle, it was thinly defined and was light, unlike his own bulking form, with heavy and obvious muscle underneath the tanned, darker skin.

After the three of them managed to get the vehicle into the garage, Axel departed, going back to whatever project he had before helping Reno out. Reno asked Rude to pop the hood and then slunk under it, much like he had been when Rude walked into the garage. He tinkered a bit and played with a few things, before smiling and stepping back, leaving the car hood up.

"Yer battery's dead, yo. Though your car does need a good tune up soon, it's outta shape a bit. But nothin' a bit of some good ol' TLC will fix." Reno assessed, smiling as Rude heaved a sigh of relief.

"Good, I thought something was wrong with it, worse than a dead battery. How much for today? I think I'll swing back by once I save up some so I can get that tune up." Rude said, forcing himself to be strictly business like, and to leave whatever was drawing him in out of it. Reno perked a bit at the last bit of Rude's sentence before shaking a hand at Rude.

"Don't worry about it, I'll just give you a boost and you can buy a new battery." Reno blinked at Rude, whose face didn't look quite as confident as before, despite his eyes being covered by glasses. "Unless you don't know how to, in that case here, you go get a battery, they sell them right down the street, three buildings down on this side." How Rude was now, it made Reno burst into a laugh, shaking his head before walking over to the car and removing the dead battery from the vehicle. "Here, yo. I'll go with you and show you what to get." The redheaded mechanic said with a grin. Rude blinked behind his glasses and then nodded with a small chuckle. He had to get to know this Reno better. He'd never met anyone who could read him like this person could, especially while he wore his standard sunglasses. This Reno could be quite a bit of fun, probably a good distraction from the ungodly heat and humidity.

~o~

While Rude drove down the road, his car never having run better with its new battery, he recounted the couple hours he'd spent at the garage, and the experience of buying the new battery. Reno had been good about it, understanding that Rude just wasn't a car person, and promised to help him out whenever he needed. He also was really reasonable with prices, as he'd given him an estimate about the tune up his car needed. He hadn't bothered to charge Rude the swapping of a battery.

Reno also showed him how to put in the battery which was really simple and easy to do. It had taken a total of half an hour to get Rude's car running again, including the trip to the auto body shop down the road, but Rude couldn't bring himself to pull away and move on with his adventure, keeping Reno company while he returned to work on the car he'd been working on when Rude had walked into the shop. He even went around and retrieved things for Reno, having to ask more then once about things, not knowing the actual term for a few things, which seemed to only amuse Reno even more. Rude, being the antisocial person he was, didn't really understand why he stuck around and even contributed to the conversation they were holding more then he usually did, for he usually didn't bother with adding his two cents to a conversation, being one to just listen to the words.

Rude had left after sticking around until Reno had to go back to work after his lunch break. Reno even went and scrounged up something for Rude to eat, joking that it was Axel's lunch for the day, but really wasn't. They talked more over the meal, though before Rude left Reno made him promise to stop by every now and then so they could talk. He seemed to enjoy the larger male's company just as much as Rude did with Reno.

Once Rude reached his new apartment he parked his car and headed inside the building to get up to his apartment. After letting himself in he kicked off his shoes and went over to the kitchen area to grab a bottle of water from his fridge and then walked to his room to swap out his glasses, having no need to cover his eyes from anyone in his apartment, as no one but him lived there. Once that was done he returned to his worn novel, settling and reading until his stomach growled in protest, now being time to make some dinner for it, having read longer than he thought he had.

Rude settled with a simple meal of spaghetti and a little bit of garlic bread, the meal being easy for him to prepare. It may not have seemed like it but Rude was actually a good cook, and would far rather become one for a living then a lawyer, but it's what his parents pushed and nudged him to be.

~o~


	2. Chapter 2

_Country Boys_

_Chapter 2_

~o~

"Goddamn, yo! What'd you do? Run over a line of nails? Plate of glass?" Reno joked when Rude pulled into the garage a few days later, actually having managed the nails part. But it wasn't completely on purpose. Just… Partially, Rude had seen the nails in the road and had time to miss them, but he hadn't seen Reno since his battery died and he didn't want to seem like a creep and stop by when he didn't need anything done to his car. Thus his new situation, it didn't seem like Reno cared that much, what with his obviously playful banter.

"Nails, someone spilled them in the road and I couldn't avoid them." Rude explained, almost going as far as to rub the back of his neck, but he resisted. Why Reno was making him more expressive and communicative in general when he'd only known him a few days was something else to Rude. He decided to blame the south, with its heat and the humidity, surely Reno couldn't do this in decent weather up north. Reno snorted and laughed a bit, giving a small shrug before glancing back at the car tire.

"Got a spare in the trunk?" The redhead asked after a thorough eyeing of the tire, knowing it was beyond repair. Rude frowned a bit and thought a moment before nodding and walking over to pop the trunk open for Reno, only a couple things in the trunk.

"Alright, hm… Aha! Here we go. It'll look odd until you can buy a new tire for it, but this'll get you around town for the time being, and it's not like everyone's had to drive with a spare. So! No feeling subconscious." Reno rambled, it was probable that he had to deal with an over secure or insecure customer who fought up and down against the spare tire. Rude himself snorted and shrugged.

"Not like I care, though my parents would. Just because that's how they are, but me? Eh, I couldn't care less what the car's tires looked like." Reno smiled at this; it was one of the longest statements he'd gotten from Rude. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Rude was a bit of an introvert, antisocial, ect, but Reno did enjoy that, even though he didn't know just how extreme those terms could be used when applied to Rude, he was getting more than he expected from the larger man.

"Alright, yo. Know how to change a tire? Thought not, here likes this…"

Reno had the privilege of showing Rude how to change a tire, joking and playing the entire time with the other. As they worked Reno chatted about his past couple of days, ranting a bit and then would catch himself in mid rant and would apologize, knowing it wasn't very polite to rant to someone he hardly knew. Rude didn't care, though, and would tell him that every time Reno stopped himself from ranting, making the redhead go on and finish the rant. When Reno asked why he did that he just simply shrugged and said.

"I know ranting about something makes a person feel better. I like to listen." Reno blinked at the answer before grinning out right and nodding in approval.

"Guess yer right, buddeh." The redheaded mechanic said with a sure nod, and stood after finishing with changing Rude's tire, grabbing his rag from his pocket and rubbing his hands off, getting most of the grease off of the appendages.

Rude asked how much the change would be, and as Reno was cool, he hardly charged Rude anything, though couldn't get away from the slightly large tip Rude gave him anyway. Rude didn't want to eat up Reno's time and not pay him at least partially properly. The redhead could try to escape the extra money, but it was a bit pointless to do so; as Rude would figure a way to repay him anyway, whether this was with large tips or lunches for the redhead.

~o~

Over the next few weeks, Rude kept finding things wrong with his car, in between getting that much needed tune up, to continue visiting Reno at the little mechanic shop. Reno himself couldn't bring himself to mind, he loved the attention from someone new, knowing Rude came around mostly for himself and not his car. Which gave Reno much pleasure in knowing.

With the attention, came surprise attraction on Reno's part. Sure, the shorter male had thought Rude was quite attractive the first day he'd shown up, what with his height and muscles and his appearance in general, even the tanner skin. But the redhead had slowly forgotten the fact, or he didn't notice as much unless Rude was wearing something flattering. Almost randomly his attraction, unnoticed by himself, decided to show itself when Rude stopped by one day, to give Reno some company since Axel was home sick with some sort of flu. It was made visible to Reno with one simple word from Rude.

"Hey, Ren, how're you doin' today?" Reno almost blinked at the nickname, never been called that. His usual nicknames consisted of Red, Red, and Red. He wasn't graced with the most creative nickname, and didn't really like it. He stopped answering to it in an attempt to get people to stop calling him it. He did smile at the nickname and Rude, thinking an affectionate curse word at his luck. Seemed he'd never be able to have just a guy friend, without himself getting attracted to him at some point in the friendship, though, to be honest. Nine times out of ten nothing happened and the crush would fade away leaving only friendship. But still. It was a bit annoying to the redhead, though again. He couldn't bring himself to mind this time. Rude was too much of an awesome person to mind, never mind his good looks. They weren't even a sliver of the reason for Reno's attraction, only his personality. Reno liked how quiet he was and how Rude would open up a bit more around Reno.

"Hey yo! What brings the Rude here?" Reno asked, quirking a brow at the taller man, and most likely older. Rude shrugged and stepped farther into the garage.

"Thought I'd stop in and hang with you for a bit, since Axel's sick and all that. If you don't mind that i-"

"Naw, yo! I don't mind at all!" Reno interrupted with a grin, before he noticed Rude's hands were behind his back and he got the slight whiff of some precious caffeine. He blinked before grinning brightly again, "That coffee I smell?" He asked hopefully, getting a bit excited as he detected a hint of vanilla in the air. Oooh, that was his favorite.

Rude looked as if he were caught red-handed, though he thought the younger's actions cute, how he realized that Rude was hiding something of a surprise.

"Damn, there goes the surprise. But yes, yes it is. With a healthy shot of vanilla." Rude said with a chuckle, seeing Reno beam with joy and almost dance over to stand before him, the older holding out one of the Styrofoam cups for him. Reno grabbed the cup and shuddered as he took a deep breath through his nose, the steam rising right up to his nose as the redhead held the cup under his chin, lid pressed against his lips.

"Mmm… Damn, Rude, I'd seriously kiss you right now if this wasn't so intoxicating, yo." Reno took a small sip of the coffee, testing the scalding hot liquid, deciding it was far too hot. "How'd you know I love vanilla in my coffee?" Reno then asked, giving Rude a curious look. Rude blinked at the first statement, not expecting that from the redhead at all, before shaking off the odd feeling to answer Reno with a smile and a small drink of his own coffee, the heat not bothering his tongue at all, which made Reno give him an odd look, wondering how the elder could take the heat of the liquid.

"I heard you mention to Axel about that vanilla cream stuff and I could smell it on your breath and in your coffee so I just figured you liked it." Rude said with a simple shrug, not knowing how much the small gesture meant to the redheaded mechanic. Reno gave Rude a small smile, one true and almost tender, before nodding and taking another sip.

"Thanks, Rude." Reno said with the same smile before a little glint hit his eyes and he turned and sauntered back over to where he was, glancing up at the clock on the wall so he could see Rude out of the corner of his eye. He had to resist smirking, seeing the other's face, despite that his eyes were covered, was still easy to tell what Rude thought of the movements.

The rest of the day was spent with Rude bustling around the garage, fetching things for Reno whenever a car visited the shop. It was quite busy today and Reno was glad Rude had decided to stop by, and was willing to help him out with the work the only way he could. After it slowed down a bit Reno and Rude got to talking some more, mainly Reno as per usual, but Rude contributed as well. He even asked Reno how Axel was feeling, knowing the redhead had taken a five minute break to call the sick brother. Reno smiled in surprise at the question and assured Rude that Axel was feeling a bit better, and might even be back in tomorrow.

"That's good. But if he's not, I'll stop by again and keep you company and help out." Rude said, getting another happy smile from Reno. The redhead beamed at him and nodded with a simple thanks and reply.

"Alright, yo! Thanks for the help. I swear, people know I'm the only one here and decide to swarm me. Not much to do when Axel's here, but oh god, Reno's at the shop alone! Find something wrong with your car; let's go bother him with lots of work!" Reno said with a laugh, only joking about the day. Rude himself let out a small chuckle, getting yet another small laugh from Reno, the redhead happy that he'd gotten Rude to laugh a bit.

The rest of the day had another rush period, Rude helping out a lot, and then winded down. Rude stayed to help Reno close up the shop then blinked when Reno started to walk down the sidewalk, the two having said their good byes. He hummed and then called Reno's name, getting the redhead to turn around, and a small breeze making his hair sway some a curious look on his face.

"Want to grab a bite to eat with me?" Rude asked, having started to walk towards Reno, unknowingly, and as he realized how the wording of his sentence could be taken, he decided he didn't care if Reno did take it that way. If the redhead was after all like that, for the older of the two had no idea. He himself was getting quite attached to Reno, and wondered what if this was how having a crush on someone felt like. It was quite easy to do, but could be slightly nerve-wracking at times. Reno had smiled brightly in the darkening light, trying to fix his hair as he walked over to Rude and nodded.

"Sure, sounds great, yo," Reno answered, falling into step beside Rude as they walked back towards his car, walking around and slipping into the front seat beside Rude, clicking the seat belt on and looked over to the other when he got situated. "So, where're we gonna go eat, yo?" Rude hummed at the question and shrugged, glancing over to Reno.

"Not sure, dunno what's around here. Anything you'd like?" Rude asked, not knowing the area that well, which included the places to eat aside from McDonalds and other fast food restaurants.

"Well, there's this little café that's got great food, I think you might like it! Here, I'll guide you there. Go down the road…"

As Reno told Rude where to go to get to this little café, they shared some stories with each other, laughing and joking around. Inside the small café Reno ordered his 'usual' which ended up being some specialty burger while Rude got a triple cheeseburger with some fries.

"Like cheeseburgers, yo?" Reno asked with a quirked brow, the two of them now waiting for their food to arrive, while Reno sipped on his cola through a straw, looking again, rather cute with how he was holding the cup. "The burgers here are really good, though."

"I felt like one, yea? Well good thing you picked the place then. I might have chosen a place that had really bad food." Rude said with a small chuckle, knowing it probably wasn't true.

"Nah, yo. We've only got a shitty Wendy's" Reno replied with a small chuckle, shaking his head a bit before taking another small sip from his cola from the cup. The food arrived shortly after and true to Reno's words, the burger was really good, and he even got to have a bit of Reno's burger, blinking at how good it was, saying he'd have to get it next time they went out. That got a small smile out of Reno, liking the sound of that.

"That is if you want to go out again, I don't mind, but that's just me" Rude fixed quickly, not wanting to make a choice for Reno. Reno laughed some and shook his head.

"I can see this becoming routine till you have school. I don't mind, yo. I'd like it." Reno assured with a wave of his hand, almost dreading the time when Rude was to start law school, knowing he wouldn't get to spend so much time with the elder, which made the redhead slightly sad and disappointed. He understood though, knowing that Rude had a priority to go to school. Reno's family couldn't afford it, so he was stuck with the mechanic job, but he liked it a lot, so that didn't bother him at all. Axel really wanted to teach, so as a scheme between Reno and their parents, they were all saving up some money here and there to get Axel through school so he could teach. Reno told Rude of this and Rude smiled and promised to help a bit, which got a flustered response from Reno, saying he didn't have to do that, but Rude wanted to, and after telling Reno that about three times, the redhead got it and calmed down.

"Yea, law school. Fuuun." Rude muttered in between bites, not looking forward to it. Reno blinked at the tone, having caught it and frowned some.

"What? Don't like law school? I thought you'd never been there." Reno said, setting his food down to focus on Rude more than his food.

"I haven't, but I'd rather go to culinary school and be a chef, but the parents want a lawyer for a son and a doctor for a daughter, they got the doctor, now all they need is a lawyer." Rude explained, mentioning his older sister's career for the first time.

"Well, that's silly. You should do what makes you happy, yo. Not your parents, man. I'd say enroll in the culinary school down here, it's just as good as the law school and a good amount of cheaper." Reno replied; frown still on his lips as he tried to argue his point.

"Yea, I know that. It's just hard to convince them otherwise. Sis actually wanted to be a doctor, so they don't understand why I don't want to be a lawyer. I'll try to talk to them at Thanksgiving or Christmas, whenever I go back up. I can't afford both holidays." Rude explained, talking more then he had with Reno so far.

"Well, you're welcome to my place whenever holiday you don't go! My parents would love to meet ya. They're nice people." Reno explained with a grin.

"That's really nice of you, Ren. I think I might just hit you up on that offer." Rude replied with a smile, once again using the nickname he had subconsciously given Reno. He made no conscious effort to come up with a nickname for the redhead, and didn't notice yet. It just slipped out on its own. He did really appreciate the offer that Reno made though, thinking it was really, really nice of him.

"You should, it'd be fun, yo! Get to see the crazy parents who made me. It's kind of obvious that I'm my parent's child, heh." Reno grinned before blinking and noticing that Rude still had his sunglasses on, wondering if the elder male just forgot to remove them when they arrived or if it was intentional. "Dude, why do you still have your sunglasses on?" Reno asked curiously, gesturing to them vaguely. Rude blinked behind the shades before giving a brief chuckle.

"I see, I'll have to than, thanks! And, oh yea, sorry. I like to wear them a lot. Keeps my eyes covered." Rude explained before lifting a hand to remove the shades, blinking a bit at the change in lighting before folding the nice sunglasses up and setting them on the table. "I've been told my eyes are really expressive and I like to leave people guessing. That and I've scared a few people on accident before because I had been frustrated or something and my eyes really show my emotions." Rude explained almost sheepishly, his eyes doing just what he was explaining. It was like he was a new person with how expressive he could be without the protective lenses keeping his eyes from view. Reno thought it was quite the treat, loving the chance to see Rude be far more expressive than he had been in the small few weeks that he had known him. Unfortunately or fortunate enough, it only made the attraction that Reno had for Rude grow even more. Another affectionate curse word went through his head. It really was just his luck. But Reno couldn't bring himself to mind, not this time.

"I can see that. I like your eyes, yo." Reno complimented sweetly, honestly liking them. They were a dark, rich brown shade that matched Rude perfectly. Rude gave a surprised expression, his eyes really showing it. Reno had to hold back a laugh; he was going to have to make Rude remove those pesky shades more often. It was far too much fun.

"Why? They're just brown." Reno rolled his own light blue eyes playfully.

"I like them because they're expressive and cool. I like brown eyes the best, because no one likes them. They like, like colors like my eyes, or Ax's. I think yours are better." Reno explained with a smile, deciding to take a bite of his food, to help finish the burger off. Rude went along with the lead and grabbed a few fries and stuffed them in his mouth before he said something silly about Reno's eyes, which he just about adored.

"Oh, well then. Thanks? I've never been told that." Rude said with a scratch to his cheek absently, Reno smiled more and shrugged with a small glint in his eyes.

"That's just my opinion, but my opinion does matter more than most!" Reno joked playfully, shaking his head and laughing. Rude laughed with Reno, shaking his head some as he did.

"I like your eyes, personally, because they're like windows. It's easy to tell what you're feeling, even more so than myself." Rude complimented back, smiling honestly at the redhead across from him.

The two went on like such, finishing their food slowly and talking over their glasses of cola before having a playful argument on Rude's insistence to pay, pointing out he'd asked Reno to come along, and therefore the redhead shouldn't have to pay for his own food when Rude offered to bring him. That meant that he'd been fully aware that he would buy the redhead's food.

After Rude paid, with Reno throwing some dollars on the table for a tip, the two left the small little café and Reno had Rude drop him off home, only after Rude insisted about four times that it was okay. Really, even though the small town was basically crime free, Rude didn't care for the idea of Reno walking around at night on the street. To Rude, it was too much of a risk. Though he didn't tell Reno this.

After Rude dropped Reno off, the older male drove back home, and took a shower and got ready for bed before settling in bed with a nice old book and read a chapter or two before feeling tired enough for sleep.

~o~


	3. Chapter 3

_Country Boys_

_Chapter 3_

~o~

The last weeks of summer went by, in which Rude hung around the shop even more than before. He helped Reno and Axel out as much as he could; making sure to stay out of the way. It seemed that the two brothers owned the place so they didn't have to worry about a manager getting upset that Rude was hanging around the shop too much. Rude worried about that until Reno told him that they were the owners and he was more than welcome.

Reno and Rude went out a few more times, though it was to just small food joints, nothing too expensive. Rude wasn't sure how Reno would respond to that, he didn't want to scare the redhead off. Though that was basically impossible for how attached Reno was to the elder, even though only Axel could really see it. The younger of the pair resolved to talk to Rude, and did. He didn't want Rude to lead Reno on, knowing why Reno was so attached to the elder. Even if it was unintentional until Axel brought it to Rude's attention. After that talk, Rude backed off just a bit, not too much to be noticeable, luckily since school for him was starting in the next few days, he could get away with it.

Rude thought long and hard about it, what Axel had said and decided that if he started to feel one way or another he'd tell Reno, whether that was a mainly friendly feeling or a more romantic feeling. Rude, being Rude, wasn't sure. And he had told Axel that much. He'd never been that much of a people person and hadn't bothered with the whole dating scene, so he wasn't sure what it really did feel like to be attracted to someone, but so far he thought he was to Reno. It would make sense logically for how he got around the redhead, and how he was only that way around the redhead. For example Rude wouldn't wear his sunglasses off around anyone else when they were hanging out. He knew he wouldn't get away with wearing them in class, just like in high school. He knew how to steel himself, so that wouldn't be a problem. But he'd never done that around Reno, not even when he first met the redhead. He was really open with him, even more so than his own family.

School started for Rude, nothing was different from high school yet, though it was only a few weeks in. He kept to himself and waited until the classes ended to slink away to the mechanic shop. He helped Reno and Axel out as much as he could, though as the year grew, he ended up more in the small office working at his homework than being able to truly enjoy and engage in any company with the two redheads, especially Reno. The bald man was beginning to miss him, knowing that he was just a ways away, but still out of reach bugged the hell out of him. He was, all in all, beginning to grow frustrated with all of this work. He knew it was going to be tough, but if it was getting this tough so early… He'd expected the true difficulty to hit sophomore year, but here he was; only a month and a half into his freshman year and it was getting rough. It made him long more for the culinary school just down the way.

Reno could pick up on Rude's frustration when it began to really set in. The redheaded mechanic wished he could be of some help for the other, but since he'd only gotten through high school, and wasn't that great at what Rude was studying, he felt rather worthless to the older. He settled to fetching Rude coffee and snacks often, and would sit inside the office with Rude when he had a spare moment, to try and dispel the bad atmosphere that hung inside the room when Rude was annoyed. It was never visible though, he kept it hidden. But Reno could see through it when it got to its worst point.

"Alright, close that book now, yo." Reno said one day, when Rude was fretting over some silly problem he had to do and was basically stressing himself out unnecessarily. Rude looked up and blinked behind his normal glasses, surprise on his face.

"What?" Reno rolled his eyes and walked over, taking the pencil from Rude and placed it in the margin of the book before flipping it close.

"You're going to stress yourself sick. So you're taking a break. Fresh air and some good food." Reno said with a grin, walking around the desk to grab Rude's thicker wrist with slender fingers, tugging at him. "Up, up." Rude blinked more until he smiled himself and chuckled with a small shake of his head, getting up and starting to gather his things before he heard Reno go "Ah, ah, ah! Leave it, now c'mon."

"What am I, your dog?" Rude joked, quirking a brow at the redhead before. He got a sheepish grin before Reno turned and padded out of the room, knowing Rude would be quick to follow him. "Alright, where're we headed now, Ren?" Rude asked, after a bit of walking, having easily caught up to the shorter male with his long strides. Reno smiled at the nickname, which was becoming more and more common. He glanced around, the air was still warm, where it would be getting chilly up north, it stayed nice down in the south. It was at the beginning of November, the coolness wouldn't set in until the end of December when long sleeve shirts might be needed or a thin hoodie.

"No where. We're just walking." Reno explained with a glint in his eye, grinning at the other as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. Rude followed suit subconsciously after a few minutes, staying quiet for a while before he spoke up again.

"Thanks, Ren, I needed this." Rude said, simple and neat like. Reno smile happily and nodded.

"It's not a problem, Ru, I could tell you were getting really stressed out in that room. Come out a bit more from now on, yea? If only for five minutes at a time. It'll help with your stress levels. I had to do that with school work years back. Take five minute breaks to just calm down if the work was upsetting me." Reno said, not wanting Rude to work himself to exhaustion or to stress himself ill.

"I promise, I won't stay cooped up like that again." Rude assured with a small nod.

"Good, yo! Anyway, I do have to ask yah somethin', Ru." Reno said, using that new nickname for Rude again, Rude hadn't noticed the first time, but this time he did and he blinked, never having a nickname like it. Most of his old ones sucked and he'd rather not remember them. Rude made a gesture for Reno to go on, blinking his eyes some from behind the sunglasses he'd swapped when they left the garage. "I donno what you're doing for Thanksgivin' an all, and if you are sorry to ask! But I had to, I was wonderin' if you'd wanna come over to my place, that is if you're not going back to your parent's house!" Reno asked, fumbling over words and rambling some, his attraction getting the better of him for a minute. Rude blinked before smiling happily.

"I actually can't go back up for Thanksgiving, but I'd love to eat at your place, thanks, Reno." Rude said, watching as Reno's face went from some surprise to full out happiness.

"Awesome! My mum's a great cook, mmmmhm. Best turkey in all the south, I swear!" Rude laughed and smiled some.

"I'll just have to try it, see if you're just braggin' for your mom." Reno snorted and bumped into Rude, which really did nothing but make him bounce off and stumble. "Careful, jeez. You're really clumsy. How you still have ten fingers with a mechanic job." Reno grinned and laughed at that.

"Sorry, yo. You make me weak at the knees with your very presence." Reno teased, bumping against Rude again and Rude swayed with the bump this time instead of letting Reno bounce off again.

"Oh, really now?" Rude asked, a small smirk on his face as he looked down on Reno, a brow quirked high. Reno blinked at the sight for a moment before shaking his head and returning the devilish look.

"Why yes. But…" Reno than went off on a small story telling spree, Rude not minding that the subject was changed, but it solidified the growing suspicion of attraction to the redhead more and more. They talked and walked for another half an hour before they started to head back, luckily Axel hadn't gotten swamped at the shop, only tinkering with a car. Rude went to gather his books and things from the office and Reno chatted with his younger brother some.

"You've got it _bad_, bro." Axel commented as he shut the hood of the car. Reno blinked and tried to play it off.

"Got what, yo?" Axel laughed and shook his head before nodding towards the office where Rude was, the older having decided to try and have one more try at that problem that was annoying him earlier.

"Rude. Don't think I don't see it. You're like a goddamn puppy, Ree." Axel said, using his own nickname for Reno. Reno rolled his eyes at the nickname but raised his hands up, giving a small chuckle.

"Okay, okay, you caught me, yo." Reno said before glancing back towards the office. "I always seem to do this, yo. I get attached way too easy." Reno said, almost scolding himself affectionately.

"Well, if it's any consolation, I like Rude. He's nice and would be good for you. I already had a brotherly talk with him-"

"You didn't!"

"I did, but that's not the important part. Important part is I approve if anything does happen." Axel said with a nod, smiling at Reno. Reno blinked before smiling.

"We'll see how the family likes him at Thanksgiving, I invited him earlier. He can't go back up north to his parent's house so he said he'd come. Hopefully Grammy will like him. You know how she is." Reno said with a snort.

"How who is?" Rude asked, having just heard the last bit of the conversation as he walked over to the two brothers. Reno laughed some and shook his head.

"Someone you'll see at Thanksgiving. I'll talk about her sometime so you're not caught off guard when you're over. She's… Eccentric to say the least for an old woman." Reno explained with a nod, memories of his great grandmother flashing through his head. She really was an eccentric woman, and for being in her nineties and still in the health that she was, it was quite an accomplishment. No sign of dementia or any other disorder or disease that came with age. She acted like she was still ripe and young.

"Oh, alright, sounds good to me." Rude said, adjusting his bag on his shoulders some before shifting his weight to his other leg. Reno turned to Axel and gave a small wave before turning back to face Rude and trotting over to the larger male, giving him a bright smile.

"Where to?" Reno asked, knowing Axel could handle the rest of the two hours the shop was open, and thus figured he'd just hang out with Rude.

"Hm, not sure. I was just going to head back home and relax, you can come along if you want to." Rude replied with a small shrug, taking a moment to swap his glasses for his shades, brown eyes blinking and adjusting to the slightly flickering lights in the garage. Reno blinked before nodding his head some, smiling.

"Sure, yo. Got any good movies?" Reno asked, starting to walk out of the garage, knowing Rude would follow his lead.

"I've got hundreds." Rude said nonchalantly, shrugging some. He'd lost count of the movies he had after it passed three hundred. Reno gave a rather pleased, happy face before grinning some.

"Awesome! I'll have to check out your collection, yo!" Reno said with a happy little nod. He was excited and nervous at the same time. He'd be going over to Rude's house for the first time in their entire friendship; they usually just hung out at the shop, or out on the streets walking around like they were now. It was likewise that Rude had never been over to Reno's house, which was a small little farmhouse, with about two acres of land, an old decrepit barn stood out on the edge of the property. It wasn't housing anything currently, Reno was hoping to fix it up to get it functioning first.

"It's not too great, just my favorites that I'll watch multiple times." Rude replied with another shrug, finding it a bit funny that Reno was so excited about the collection, though to be fair the redhead got excited about multiple things rather easily. He then remembered about the small ball of fur running around his home, and almost visibly winced. He'd forgotten to tell Reno about the small kitten he'd picked up, to give him another companion like the one he had as a child. He'd grown up with a cat that was three or four years older than him and she'd died his junior year in high school and he didn't want another cat until now, figuring it'd be a good time to do it. "Hey, you have a problem with cats?" He asked, not wanting to be subtle about it, classic Rude.

Reno blinked and laughed a bit "Naw, dude. I have like, four strays that hang around the house. I feed them whenever they look a little too skinny." Rude smiled after a moment, happy that he'd have no problems with Reno and the small kitten he was taking care of.

"Alright, I'll have to find her and introduce you to her. She's a bit skittish, but maybe she'll like you." Rude said with a chuckle, and the two lapsed into talk, discussing past pets, while Rude didn't mention his cat, he did mention the family dog and his mother's dog. The family dog had passed recently but the little terror his mother called 'Pookie' was still alive and kicking. Even after twenty years of angry life. She'd never been a pleasant thing to be around. She was always upset about something that Rude and his family couldn't figure out.

The walk didn't take long and soon enough they were trudging up the stairs to Rude's apartment, Rude had to catch Reno when he slipped on the step, not stepping onto it enough to get traction. He grinned sheepishly at Rude and rubbed at the back of his neck, thanking the man for preventing the tumble.

It took a few minutes of coaxing, but Rude finally got the young cat out from under his bed, holding her gently but tightly as he walked back to Reno, knowing that when she heard someone other than himself that she'd panicked and hid from whoever it was. She mew'd pathetically when he got close to Reno, who just looked on with aw, finding her adorable. She was some sort of longer haired breed, but not too long. Like when you mixed a normal shorthair cat with a long haired cat. Medium length fur that poofed out around her to make her seem bigger as she felt threatened. Reno smiled and cooed at her, lifting a hand to gently rub her head and ears. She squirmed some before jumping from Rude's arms and darting off to hide again.

"heh, sorry. She's just skittish." Rude said, having seen another side of Reno when he was petting her, he softened up and just relaxed, smiling easily and quietly. The redhead shook his head and smiled some.

"Don't worry about it, what's her name?" He aked, wanting to know what he was to call the small fuzzball.

"Her name's Cassie." Rude supplied, smiling as he lead Reno to the living room and to his bookcase of movies, letting the redhead pick out a movie while he made popcorn and drinks. He returned with a bowl big enough to fit three full bags of the popped kernels, and two large plastic cups of soda. Reno's face lit up upon the site of the large bowl of popcorn and the small sharp smell of burnt kernels.

"Dude, yo! You burned the popcorn! I love it burnt." The redhead all but announced, being quick to take a big handful of the stuff. Rude laughed lightly and settled down after he placed the cups of pop down in front of them. The chatted through the previews, Rude guessing what movie Reno had chosen just by the previews. But he acted pleasantly surprised when the title screen came on, just for Reno's sake. It seemed to leave the redhead tickled pink. When the movie started to play, they both settled down quietly, happily enjoying the movie that played on the average sized tv before them.

The older of the two slouched a bit, legs splayed some in the typical man way of sitting, his arm thrown up over the back of the couch, while leaning against the arm of the furniture as well. The redhead had his feet tucked up under him for the most part of the movie, sometimes he'd shift and stretch his legs out to keep the blood flowing, munching on popcorn the entire movie, Rude would take a handful at a time, and then slowly pop a piece into his mouth.

The movie was a thriller, just under horror, and more than once Reno tensed and stayed completely still, trying to not yelp like he would have at home. Once he jumped and nearly knocked over the popcorn bowl, which made him flush and apologize quickly, gathering his balance again and safely tucking the bowl between them again. Rude assured the redhead that all was well, not to worry about it since it didn't spill and then they settled back in to finish their movie.

When the movie credits rolled, the bowl of popcorn had been almost completely consumed and both sodas were drained. Reno stretched his arms up while Rude stood, popping the disc out of the player's tray and replacing it in its case, then putting it back on the shelf. The mechanic watched as the elder went through the motions, almost like Reno wasn't there until the taller of the two turned on his heel to smile at the redhead. He returned the smile and stood, stretching even more, making a satisfied sigh when he relaxed again, and feeling nice to stretch out again.

"Well, I enjoyed th' movie, yo." Reno supplied, feeling just a tad awkward about what they were to do now, figuring it was probably time for him to return to his own abode before he did something he probably shouldn't while over. "I had fun, Rude, though I should probably go home, got work n' the morn'."

"Alright, happy you had fun, feel free to come whenever. It was nice." Rude said, nodding his head and stuffing his hands into his pockets. He was sad to see the redhead go, but it had to happen, the night wouldn't just go on endlessly for the pair. Reno smiled and padded over, holding a hand out in the bro-hug position. Rude chuckled silently, pulling his hands out of his pockets, and clasped his hand with Reno's, leaning forward and down to accommodate Reno's shorter stature and patted him on the back a couple times, releasing the redhead when he felt the younger's grip lax. He stepped back and nodded again.

"See you tomorrow?" He wondered aloud, which made Reno smile and nod.

"Sure, yo! Stop by the shop!" He replied happily before going over to get his shoes on, waving back to Rude before slipping out the door, stuffing his hands into his pockets once he was outside, huffing in the cool air before starting for home, being a bit of a walk, but Reno didn't mind. Crime didn't really happen in this town, and even if it did, he was well capable to defend himself. He may be thin, but he wasn't just scrawny, he was in shape and had muscle mass, it just wasn't the same kind as Rude's large muscles. He was built more like a basketball player while Rude was a hockey player.

~o~

4


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